Up Early Again,

today I was off to Nissan for a service for our truck,

the sign to look out for,

 with showroom and car park at the front,

 if you are going out of Pattaya towards Bangkok,

 and you see the Cholchan Hotel on your left you have gone to far so take a 'U' turn and double back,

and here is their card if you need it,

 the good news was that the full service, oil and filter change plus a set of new brakes and a air conditioning top up and a few others minor things like getting the windscreen washers to work came to 9,700 baht, arriving home home I noticed another one of the amaryllis had flowered,

 it looked just like a firework as it opened,

 after a coffee on to Jack Levy's on Pattaya Tai, I had to pick up the documents for our trucks insurance,

it is almost opposite this shop selling perfumed goods,

 next to the weekend night market on Thepprasit Road, as Diana's family were here we used the truck, so I parked at the far end of the market and made my way along the part I do not normally walk through, so I saw one of the many food stalls that I do not normally see,

one thing about this end of the market is that here they sell shoes,

 lots of them,

 plus there are a few food stalls,

 looking back to where I entered,

 and looking towards the area where I would have normally entered the market,

 one of the many mobile food sellers,

 and here is where I would normally be,

 looking back towards Jomtien,

 and inland,

 opposite the bar this evening a stall selling secondhand clothes and underwear,

 not many customers at the monkey shake this evening,

or at the fruit stall,

  or at the bug stall,

 where they sell lots of bugs,

 as well as frogs and prawns,

 the food aisles were very quiet,

 but then we were quite early as we were in the truck, which always takes more time to get around town,

 the pet aisle with no one there,

 in fact we were so early some shops like the new pet boutiques had not yet opened,

 sunset over the market,

 the far end of the new food aisle with hardly a customer,

 or in fact any the the other aisles,

  but one thing there were lots of this evening were caterpillars,

 not in their tens or twenty's,

 but in their hundreds,

 they were everywhere,

not many new fluffy toys in the stall behind the bar,

only a couple of cats and dogs,

then I looked down to find this cheeky chappy,

another caterpillar climbing up my bar stool,

as we sat drinking another mobile food seller drove past,

and then here the family were, I had thought they had all gone for a ice cream in Tesco Lotus, 

 but no,

 they went for a pizza,

I guess the ice cream is too fattening,

Ah!,

meanwhile Brian and myself had a beer, we said our goodbyes to Brian and made our way home, after my evening meal of wholemeal bread and ham, then to the important part of the evening,

 monopoly!

which Dioshane won again, we then settled down to watch a episode of The Chase, the final part of Jurassic Park and for all of us we were all off to bed.

We Were Up Early Again Today,

as we wanted to catch the 08.00 ferry to Koh Larn,

 so a quick pose on the jetty, 

 and we are on our way, the new marina seems to be taking shape as a boat makes it's way past it,

 one of the long tail boats getting ready to make way,

 the cost of the ferry is 30 baht each one way, the same as our last visit, but we did notice the price for the speed boats has risen from 300 baht to 500 baht one way,

  50 minutes or so later and we had arrived,

Diana took this picture of Doishane with my mobile phone,

 soon we were under umbrellas, each chair was, as it is still considered high season, 100 baht each,

 soon we were in the sea,

 having said that I stayed on the beach to look after our things,

 so Diana,  

 Sandio,

 and Mum took turns at being the photographer,

 so time to pose for the group shot,

 and a few individual poses,

 before going underwater,

all set,

snorkels on,

 and under we go!

 we only had two face masks, 

 so everyone had to share,

 but great fun was had by all,

 time for a quick breather,

 then under again,

 and away,

 Diana and Dioshane popped back to make sure I was not feeling lonely,

 then they were back out to sea again,

 everybody having a fine time,

 looking back to the beach,

 the family had hired a floating ring,

 which they brought back when it was time for lunch,

 so food all round,

 a selection of chicken,

 prawn bar-b-q, and grilled fish, plus some rice,

and chicken fried rice,

 the smell of the chicken and prawns meant we had a guest,

 did I mention a beer for me?

 food finished next it is time for an afternoon siesta,

 then back into the sea for a final frolic,

 our day drew to a close,

 as we made our way back to the ferry,

 we decided on the 4.00 ferry so we would arrive back a tad before 5.00,

 the crew of one of the small fishing boats prepares the boat for the nights fishing, one thing that had gone down in price was the speed boat return trip, last time we were here it was 300 baht, today down to 200 baht,

the boat we caught back was one of the slim narrow boats, unfortunately the upper deck was full so we did not have much of a view of the trip home, but the good news is that the slimmer boats are a few knots faster than the normal ferry's,

 the building work we saw the last time we were here has come on a pace, the Pattaya skyline changing so rapidly,

a quick pose on the jetty as we walked to the truck and in no time we were home eating our evening meal,

 noodles, fruit shakes and a few other nibbles for the family, I went with some wholemeal bread, with ham, tomatoes and salad,

 then a first for Sandio and Dioshane, a game of Monopoly,

and against all odds Dioshane won, what I did not realise was that the loser had to pay a forfeit, in this case wash the dishes, so Diana had the washing up to do! the family went to bed after a few more snacks, we watched two more from Bones and then we too were off to bed.